wealth transfer

Today's lofty asset prices are dependent on one thing far beyond all else: continued massive amounts of liquidity injected each and every month by the world's central banks.

Over $12 trillion in "thin air" money has been printed up by the world's central banks since the start of the Great Recession. And so far in 2017, a fresh $200 billion is added to the pile each month(!)

This makes the future price trajectory for stocks, bonds, real estate and nearly every other asset class more dependent on central bank policy than at any time in history. Investors need to ask: What are the central banks most likely to do next, and what will the repercussions be?» Read more

We here at PeakProsperity.com are particularly concerned about the central banks' next actions, as we believe their policies are creating the greatest wealth transfer of all time -- from the hard-earned savings of the public, and into the pockets of an elite few. (More on our conclusions can be read here).

Which is why, via our brand-new webinar platform, we're giving you insider access to several of the world's top experts on the central banking system, world currencies and financial markets.

During this 3-hour webinar, you'll hear their latest intelligence and forecasts AND be able to ask each speaker questions directly. This will be an amazingly rich and interactive experience.

History may not repeat but it sure does rhyme. Mike Maloney has studied monetary and financial breakdowns throughout history and concludes that there's nothing new or different happening this time, except its global and far more massive than any other time in history.

Worse, there are echoes of 1911 where a series of diplomatic blunders and national pride and intransigence combined to create the still largely inexplicable start to WW I.

Chris Martenson: Well it’s global this time, right? This is -- there’s nowhere to hide. (...) What has happened when we’ve tried to print our way to prosperity before? What has happen? Why has it happened and what have been the consequences always been?

Mike Maloney: Whenever you try to print your way to prosperity it transfers well from the masses to the few. The few being the people running the game and then also the hucksters that are very nimble, the con artists and so on. You see these people get rich during the Weimar Hyperinflation. There were quite a few of these fancy salespeople that got rich; they didn’t stay rich once things stabilized again.

But it creates such a topsy turvy world that the normal person that does not know how to operate under these weird economic conditions cannot possibly keep up with things and wealth is transferred away from those people to the people that are very good at observing what’s going on that second and adjusting to it. But the one thing that I see as a constant throughout history is that gold and silver eventually do an accounting of all this -- the financial -- you know financial finessing that the governments are doing.

And when it does that it -- there is a transfer of wealth to the people that own gold and silver. And so -- it’s very rare moments in history. This does not happen often. But it’s a great opportunity and I’ve just -- you know if you look at gold right now the public’s opinion of gold is quite low because it’s been going down for three years.

But if you look at it in a longer timeframe and I started investing in gold in 2002 and by early 2003 I started investing in silver and if you look at it from the year 2000 it’s still the best performing of the assets. It’s still out performed the Dow and S&P and real estate.

And I will continue, myself, to accumulate on the way down I see this as an opportunity. And if it goes lower than it is right now, you know nobody has a perfect crystal ball. So it may have already put in its lows. But I just accumulate every single month and I will continue doing that because I see that as the only sure thing in this crazy world of currency creation.

The (Delusional) Plan: Growth Will Cover Past & Future Debts

Currently, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio stands at around 350% in 2013. This is an historically elevated number, so much so that we really don't have anything in our economic history books to tell us what comes next. Robust economic growth, we suppose, that can reduce that imbalance painlessly.

But looking at the past 220 years of history, we find that the average yearly growth in U.S. GDP has been 3.8%:

Now, I have some quibbles with the idea that the U.S. will be able to sustain that long-run average of 3.8% over the next 30 years, because debt levels are already crushing growth, as are high oil prices (double whammy!). But let's spot the Fed every advantage here.

If U.S. GDP grows at 3.8% annually, but credit grows at 8%, that means the nation's debt-to-GDP ratio would balloon to 1,130% by 2043. That's equivalent to someone with a $50,000 salary carrying $57 » Read more

I am very disappointed by, but not surprised at, the latest transfer of wealth to the bankers from everyone else. The most recent gold bear raid has vastly enriched the bullion bankers, once again, at the expense of everyone trying to protect their wealth from global central bank money printing.

The central plank of Bernanke's magic recovery plan has been to get everybody back borrowing, spending, and "investing" in stocks, bonds, and other financial assets. But not equally so, as he has been instrumental in distorting the landscape towards risk assets and away from safe harbors. » Read more